A cartoon of me drawn in San Francisco in 2001.
I was chosen by Intel to be one of two Australians to attend a conference in San Francisco at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins, at the top of Nob Hill. We spent a week listening to and interacting with the Chairman (Andrew Grove), the CEO (Craig Barrett), the President (Paul Otellini), and many Vice Presidents of Intel.
It was an interesting time. Here we all were, listening to Intel's major plans for the future, including a $10+ billion investment in the rollout of mega-sized data centres around the world, while we had candles on our tables. The state of California was experiencing an electricity crisis, with major blackouts happening at any time. Hence the candles. Everywhere you went in the city, makeshift generators kept the lights on.
I was in the process of establishing an Innovation Centre at Oakton in Melbourne as a joint venture between Intel Australia, Microsoft, Dell Computers, and Oakton. We spent more than $1.5 million to create the first Innvation Centre in the Southern Hemisphere.
On my last day in San Francisco, I got to head out to visit Intel's primary Innovation Centre in Santa Clara, their nearby Data Centre, and their corporate Headquarters.